Pepsi Says It'll Use an Artificial Constellation, Hung in the Night Sky Next To the Stars, To Promote an Energy Drink (futurism.com) 318
A Russian company called StartRocket says it's going to launch a cluster of cubesats into space that will act as an "orbital billboard," projecting enormous advertisements into the night sky like artificial constellations. And its first client, it says, will be PepsiCo -- which will use the system to promote a "campaign against stereotypes and unjustified prejudices against gamers" on behalf of an energy drink called Adrenaline Rush, reports Futurism. From the report: Yeah, the project sounds like an elaborate prank. But Russian PepsiCo spokesperson Olga Mangova confirmed to Futurism that the collaboration is real. "We believe in StartRocket potential," she wrote in an email. "Orbital billboards are the revolution on the market of communications. That's why on behalf of Adrenaline Rush -- PepsiCo Russia energy non-alcoholic drink, which is brand innovator, and supports everything new, and non-standard -- we agreed on this partnership."
No. Just no. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:No. Just no. (Score:5, Informative)
If they do this, I promise never ever to buy anything from Pepsi corporation again.
Not just polluting the view for everyone in the planet, they would also add more of pointless pace junk which can break useful satellites and therefore harm navigation, communication and scientific research.
Re:No. Just no. (Score:5, Insightful)
If they do this, I promise never ever to buy anything from Pepsi corporation again.
Not just polluting the view for everyone in the planet, they would also add more of pointless pace junk which can break useful satellites and therefore harm navigation, communication and scientific research.
I would join you in the boycott... if I bought anything from Pepsi in the first place. I don't drink soda, or lipton; I almost never eat fast food, so me boycotting KFC and TacoBell, and any other Pepsi owned chains over this won't help.
I will however sign any petition over banning this, and write to my local representatives asking they put a stop to this if this comes to fruition. This may be a harmless one-off for them, but if it is successful and other companies follow suit the night sky could quickly become a trashland of light pollution... I don't want to start down that trail.
Re:No. Just no. (Score:5, Informative)
You probably buy a lot more stuff from PepsiCo then you realize.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Re:No. Just no. (Score:5, Funny)
Ah, man... they own Cheetos? That's it, boycott is over. They can cover up the big dipper with a giant Mt. Dew ad for all I care, I'm not giving those up.
Re:No. Just no. (Score:4, Funny)
It's basically impossible to live an ethical life these days because the world is too integrated and interconnected. Every action can be eventually traced back to some badness of some kind.
Yes I've been watching The Good Place, but it's probably true.
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It's basically impossible to live an ethical life these days because the world is too integrated and interconnected.
Ethics is, as ethics does. Seems to me like being integrated and connected would be good for ethics.
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It's basically impossible to live an ethical life these days because the world is too integrated and interconnected. Every action can be eventually traced back to some badness of some kind.
That's exaggerated nonsense.
Even in Scotland, let alone outside of it where true Scotsmen are REALLY difficult to ferret out.
You just have to get used to the fact that you can't make sweeping feel-good generalizations and that you need to evaluate each moral or ethical choice on case by case basis, following the best information you got at hand at the moment.
That's all there is to it.
That way you can still have a family containing members who happen to not give too much of a fuck about your particular econo
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In Buddhism the question is simply; Did you see, know, or suspect that it was immoral? Then you fully share the responsibility.
Re:No. Just no. (Score:5, Interesting)
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Holy fuck...
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I don't know what's more surprising.....that list, or the fact that I don't seem to consume any Pepsi products, despite how fucking giant that list is. I thought for sure that I'd consume something, but since the local stores started selling the phenomenal tortilla chips that a local restaurant makes, Tostitos don't show up in my house anymore. That was the only thing on the list that I've had in the last few years.
I'm starting to realize that I eat a shockingly small amount of processed food, which is a pl
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Yeah i'm the same way, there's virtually nothing on that list that i've eaten in the last few years. Maybe some quaker instant oats from hotel breakfasts and a couple of bags of stacy's pita chips.
I don't think of myself as a obsessive about avoiding processed food, we just try to cook a lot and model good habits for our kid. I realize a lot of America eats this on a regular basis, but it's kind of hard to wrap my head around. It definitely feels like there's a weird schism in society around that kind of th
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Mountain Dew?! Oh, man, this is going to be tough...
Granted, I prefer Mello Yello, but it's almost impossible to find in bottles around here.
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I feel your pain but if they do this shit, then it will be cold day in hell before I touch another one.
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Quaker Oats and on rare occasion cracker jacks are the only things I buy off that list. Not that I eat healthy all the time, Pringles just wasn't on the list (that's proctor&gamble another company that surprisingly makes everything under the sun).
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You probably buy a lot more stuff from PepsiCo then you realize.
No. Checked through the list and it happens I never buy any of that stuff.
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me boycotting KFC and TacoBell, and any other Pepsi owned chains over this won't help
No, that won't help, because Pepsi no longer owns any of that. So no need! :D
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If they do this, I promise never ever to buy anything from Pepsi corporation again.
Not just polluting the view for everyone in the planet, they would also add more of pointless pace junk which can break useful satellites and therefore harm navigation, communication and scientific research.
I would join you in the boycott... if I bought anything from Pepsi in the first place.
Well, you see, that just means you haven't been sufficiently advertised to. Clearly you've demonstrated the need for orbital billboards.
You're living in the past, dude (Score:3)
I would join you in the boycott... if I bought anything from Pepsi in the first place. I don't drink soda, or lipton; I almost never eat fast food, so me boycotting KFC and TacoBell, and any other Pepsi owned chains over this won't help.
Pepsi hasn't owned KFC, Taco Bell or Pizza Hut (you forgot them) since 1997. I can't get mod points very often here, yet people have thrown you enough to get you up to a score of 5 for basically being ignorant of history. So that's what it takes to get modded up around here. Very interesting.
Re:No. Just no. (Score:5, Informative)
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The only thing on the Wiki list I might have to boycott is Dole. I think that's the brand for the bananas that I buy.
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And there's the simple fucking audacity to put that goddam advertising shit right in everyone's faces.
They do that already with billboards and LED signs, and I think most people don't go outside and look up at night, anyway.
Now, if they could arrange to get that shit on my ceiling ...
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Re:No. Just no. (Score:5, Informative)
It was amusing (and pretty good) as a sci-fi short story. It's terrifying as "reality."
Re:No. Just no. (Score:4, Insightful)
Chair Face Chip-n-Dale!
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In The Tick, Chairface Chippendale tried to carve his name into the moon with a giant laser so it would be visible from earth. He only got as far as "CHA" before The Tick stopped him.
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I suspect this announcement to be some kind of joke or publicity stunt. I would think orbital advertising would piss off too many people to be advantageous. But I could be wrong.
Re:No. Just no. (Score:4, Funny)
"Next To the Stars" (Score:3)
I'm just still trying to figure out WTF "Next To the Stars" is supposed to mean.
Re:No. Just no. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:No. Just no. (Score:5, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
empty and dissatisfied? (Score:2)
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Sure. Because spam and scams are so popular with a majority of the population; that's why they have become so prevalent.
Re:No. Just no. - astronomers beware! (Score:2)
Billboards are illegal in my state - outlawed back in the 1970's. How will these laws stand up against the out-law space region?
This is the ultimate in light pollution preventing astronomers from seeing the night sky. As a person with a small backyard telescope it might be interesting to view them. But for those multi-hour images I just hope these don't drift into my view. It'd be like that annoying mime at the park who keep trying to photo-bomb.
Re: No. Just no. (Score:2)
Hahaha...
Oh boy, this is precious! Sorry, I won't elucidate much but here is the short version.
There is an excellent book by a modern Russian author called Viktor Pelevin titled "Generation P". It deals mostly with advertising (ha!). The first 3 pages tell us why "P". Because during communism the only western drink that was available in the USSR was.....Pepsi Cola.
The author wonders why the apparatchiks decided for Pepsi and not Coke (while mentioning that it had to be only one available because in those d
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Half of me worries about a slippery slope of mass sky ads.
The other half says, "Fun colorful light show, cool!" I'm torn.
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If it's not overdone it's not going to create significant nor long-term distractions. If done occasionally, most will find it "cool".
Just like telephone calls to notify us about interesting sales offers, emails suggesting tablets for erectile disfuncion, and adverts in TV shows? Nothing overdone or distracting, only occasional, very cool, and of course highly useful.
You can hear the Astronomers screaming (Score:5, Interesting)
And on a personal note, if I ever needed a reason to boycott PepsiCo products, there it is.
Re:You can hear the Astronomers screaming (Score:5, Insightful)
And on a personal note, if I ever needed a reason to boycott PepsiCo products, there it is.
Boycott every fucking thing they make [wikipedia.org] just for thinking that this might be a good idea.
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Company promoters say a lot of things. I don't think they'll do it.
Re:You can hear the Astronomers screaming (Score:5, Insightful)
That they consider something like that is enough.
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I don't think they CAN do it. At least not for any length of time. A constellation of satellites big enough to make some recognizable 2D pattern from the ground would be on decently different orbits. The satellites would have to maneuver constantly to maintain formation. So you could put one of these up, but it wouldn't stay there long.
Bring in India! (Score:5, Funny)
We don't need this... (Score:4, Interesting)
A number of years ago, France was looking at doing something similar, using a number of large Mylar ballons, so they could celebrate an anniversery as the satellite passed overhead, which would glow brightly. This was finally nixed when astronomers made mention that this would destroy their equipment, as it would be difficult to plan for this object to go overhead, and its brightness would fry sensitive photocells.
Again, someone trying a project like this. The fewer items in space, the better. With countries starting to shoot down satellites, it is only a matter of time before the Kessler Syndrome rears its ugly head, and getting past low earth orbit would be impossible.
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getting past low earth orbit would be impossible.
Not impossible. Merely challenging. You can engineer a lot of things, design to resist damage from space junk. The problem is it adds cost and mass making it much more expensive. But if you are determined you can always make it.
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4 inch steel panels would stop most bullets.
Of course, a composite design would be lighter and you don't need to be bullet proof, just damage resistant.
Idiots are determined to be idiots. Doesn't mean they add value because of sheer will.
You may wish to search online for the term 'self awareness'.
Astronomer Boycott (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Astronomer Boycott (Score:4, Informative)
I've been to planetarium shows where they highlight light pollution. The closest one to me does a "night sky" routine where they darken the sky and make it look like night. Then, they note that we live in an urban area so light pollution limits how many stars we can see. They keep the position the same, but pretend that we've removed all light pollution. Suddenly, it's extremely dark and there's a TON of stars in the sky. Having grown up in suburban and urban places all my life and no matter how many times I see it, I'm always amazed at how many stars appear when you remove light pollution.
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This might not go over as well as they think. People are kind of tired of corporations thinking they own everything. I can imagine children interested in science finding it offensive rather that cool.
When was the last time you offended a child?
Actual children don't get offended. That only happens when they grow up and act like bigger children in their pursuit of being perpetually offended in the name of social justice, or some nonsensical shit.
Pepsi has a lot of different products that could be boycotted. I run a planetarium, and I can imagine the shows I could do on light pollution, having a great big orbting billboard to point to as an example of BAD. Right now, everybody has too many bright lights. Nobody's head stands head and shoulders above the rest as offensive. But when Pepsi puts their name on a billboard, I have a bad guy to memorialize forever. It'd be terrible, but it'd be great for Pepsi to bring a whole world of opinion down upon their head as enemies of the night sky.
Less than 5% of Pepsi customers will even expend the effort to do the research to find all of the products they own in order to enact a boycott. And less than a single percent of them will actually get off their lazy ass and do it. End result? Zero impact.
Y
Wasn't there a SciFi novel ... (Score:3)
... or a short story about this published about 50-60 years ago? I'm drawing a blank (and all my old scifi novels are in storage) but it involved billboards in space or ads on the moon or some such idea.
Re:Wasn't there a SciFi novel ... (Score:4, Informative)
Yup: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Heinlein even called the company, sort of. (Score:5, Informative)
In _The Man Who Sold The Moon_ the idea was to go to the (thinly disguised) Coca Cooa company and sell them the rights to turn the moon into a billboard - a giant bottle cap - by launching small rockets to spread soot to selectively darken the surface.
But the idea was not to actually DO it. It was to NOT do it, and build an ad campaign on how it had bought the rights in order to head off one of its rivals (7 up, also thinly disguised as "6+"). The 7up/6+ logo would be easily readable from Earth, but the Coca Cola / (whatever he called it) was too "busy" to be clear.
7up was independent at the time. But it's now owned by PepsiCo.
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This reminds me of the Red Dwarf novel 'Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers' (1989). The Coca-Cola company sends the spaceship Nova 5 on a mission to induce a simultaneous supernova in 128 supergiant stars, creating a five-week-long message in the sky visible even in daylight, reading "COKE ADDS LIFE!", and thereby crushing rival Pepsi...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacecraft_in_Red_Dwarf#Nova_5
People that live in Cities can't see that crap (Score:2)
This is the absolute dumbest idea. The absolute dumbest. Beyond the absurd expense, beyond the stupid risk of debris, only people living in the darkest skies will be able to see it if they wanted to.
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There are contenders to the title: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/te... [telegraph.co.uk]
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You know, I'm going to disagree. At least that, while definitely stupid and generally awful, would at least possibly do the job it was designed to do.
This advertising stunt, won't be seen by a single person on the ground. For one, the majority of people live in cities and our skies are too bright as it is. And even if you live in the darkest skies, you would have to know exactly when to look for the ad passing you by to see it. There is a 95% chance you would miss it even if you went significantly out of yo
No for Public Safety (Score:2)
oblig (Score:4, Funny)
Didn't we have ads in the 20th century?
Well, sure, but not in our stars. Only on TV and radio. And in magazines and movies and at ball games, on buses and milk cartons and T-shirts and bananas and written on the sky. But not in stars. No siree!
Awesome... (Score:3)
It's going to get hacked... and images of penises, Nazi, Mohammed, and shit will rain from the heavens.
It will be a good fun year... or month...
Any good part to this? (Score:2)
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To stop making fun of gaming nerds... (Score:2)
...you go off and do one of the nerdiest things in human history?
Oh yeah. That'll keep Ogre at bay.
Yes, do it! (Score:5, Interesting)
Then ban the shit out of it at the international level and force them to de-orbit their sats, so we don't have to ever see it again. Once was plenty.
deep space pictures (Score:3)
Looks like the next black hole we are going to image is going to look like the pepsi swirl logo...
Old joke (Score:5, Funny)
Suddenly a joke from the space race era gets new merits:
"What if the Russians get to the moon first?"
"They'll probably paint it red."
"So we have to hurry!"
"Relax. If they do, just send up a crew with loads of white paint and have them write "Coca Cola" across"
A short story (Score:5, Interesting)
They looked on the beautiful night sky, pointing out to each other the constellations they knew, admiring the band of the Milky Way as it swept across the inky night sky.
But all go things must come to an end, they had to get up early to polish the shipping drones for tomorrows run. They stood up, and removed the augmented reality goggles.
Looking up again, one of them thought he could maybe see Orion peeking out from behind the neon cup-o-noodles constellation and northen lighting shading effects, but then it was gone as the remaining colors of the night sky washed over his eyes competing for attention.
Remove PepsiCo from academia (Score:2)
If this happens we'll have to make sure to completely remove PepsiCo from all universities (not only those with faculties of astronomy), all colleges and all highschools and schools.
Then... (Score:2)
Some anti-capitalist or anti-western will take it out in some way and be very disappointed at the lack of negative reaction from the "west" or most capitalists. In fact we will be able to see who is most in the pockets of the crazies by how loud they howl.
What treaties or international treaties would be broken by whoever takes out those things? Which country could do it? As India can, I suspect Pakistan is working on it. They have a track record of working with North Korea. Perhaps they see Iran as som
Um, did they actually (Score:2)
A bad idea, so just make it bigger (Score:2)
I won't accept this horrible insult to nature unless is supports 4K resolution with HDMI support. I wanna play video games on a giant screen in the sky!!!!
Seriously though, reading the article is sounds more like a joke. But academically, I'd love to see how the science for this could work.
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Pepsi Should Hear from All of Us (Score:2)
This kind of shit should not be allowed...
http://astronomy.com/news/2019... [astronomy.com]
I Love Pepsi, But (Score:2)
Pepsi marketing on such a roll (Score:2)
Between this and that commercial with a Kardashian-Jenner they really get what most people want
Idea has come up many times before (Score:2)
I've heard this idea was being explored many times before, but it's never materialized. I think a CEO hears about the idea and gets excited over it, but the economics usually mean a lot of billboards and other ads will reach more eyes for less money.
Firstly, these work by reflecting sunlight. That means it will only be visible at night, but only when the satellite is still in sunlight and hasn't entered Earth's shadow yet. Then it's only visible to people with good horizons, or where it's passing very hi
Ban (Score:2)
Will be hacked almost immediately (Score:2)
Overall? Worst idea EVER. This is graffitti on a cosmic scale. Should not be allowed.
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This week's new favorite phrase: "like an Eagle Scout Merit Badge for hackers".
This a violation of US law (Score:2)
https://www.law.cornell.edu/us... [cornell.edu]
This is already illegal, in the US. I wonder where this company is based and we can just charge, and try in absence their executives.
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1) US law doesn't apply to space launches performed outside of the US.
2) US law rarely applies to any corporation that has more than a few million dollars lying around.
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Great line from the source (Score:2)
This startup made an AI read every dystopian fiction novel and is turning its cursed ramblings into business plans.
Reminds me of reading the Red Dwarf novels (Score:2)
Reminds me of the Red Dwarf books. (source: https://reddwarf.fandom.com/wi... [fandom.com])
"In the novel Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers, Nova 5 is an American vessel owned by "The Coca-Cola Company" which was sent on a mission to induce the supernova of 128 super giant stars in order to create a five-week-long message in the sky visible even in daylight, reading "COKE ADDS LIFE!" Kryten causes Nova 5 to crash after cleaning the sensitive computer terminals with soapy water. After the Red Dwarf crew finds the wreck it
Wankarrius (Score:3)
The 7-year-old in me is hoping hackers re-shape the constellation into a giant you-know-what.
Paraphrased Futurama (Score:3)
Fry: Well sure, but not in our dreams. Only on TV and radio. And in magazines. And movies. And at ball games and on buses and milk cartons and t-shirts and written in the sky. But not in dreams. No siree!
Why not? (Score:2)
Light at night, especially blue light, messes up circadian rhythms and has been implicated in sleep disruption, diabetes, and cancer. Imagine putting up an advertising constellation only to be sued by every woman with breast cancer and every man with prostate cancer. https://www.eurekalert.org/pub... [eurekalert.org]
Those lawsuits would certainly hurt the bottom line. Is there blue in Pepsi's logo?
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> Is there blue in Pepsi's logo?
That's a rhetorical question, I'm sure.
Anyway, great idea, let's get class action status. Where do I sign?
"Orbital billboards are the revolution" (Score:3)
Yeah, no they're not. Hard no. Absolutely, positively, no.
But hey, there's a bright side. It'll give us a way to test anti-satellite defenses.
this sounds familiar (Score:2)
Haven't I heard this one before [wikipedia.org]?
I expect more, Slashdot (Score:5, Informative)
I expected better from Slashdot. You're getting trolled, folks. The dimmest object you can see with the naked eye is magnitude +6. Those are only visible in very dark rural areas. In big city suburbs, the best you can see with the naked eye is magnitude +4. A cubesat's reflected sunlight magnitude is typically +10 or +11. Cubesats are only barely visible to a very large telescope when illuminated solely with sunlight.
Now if each cubesat is an active light emitter, that's a whole different thing. Let's say it's primarily solar powered. Let's further say Pepsi spends $BIG_NUM on 44% efficient multi-junction solar cells. If 3 of the 6 faces of the cube are solar cells, that's 300 square centimeters of solar cell. Solar irradiance outside atmosphere is 1367 watts per square meter. 300 square centimeters is 0.03 square meters. 1367 * 0.03 * 0.44 = 18.04 watts. Let's say the other 3 faces of the cube are LEDs. 18 watts of LEDs from Amazon gets you 1260 lumens. 1260 lumens from 0.03 square meters is 42,000 lux. That's like a tiny spot of direct sunlight as seen from Earth. That's pretty good, though the angle at which it's visible is limited by altitude and it having only 3 illuminated faces. There's no image whatsoever. It's just a bright spot.
These are all best case numbers, of course. In reality the three faces of the cube won't operate at maximum efficiency since they can't all face the sun directly at once, and in LEO they don't see sunlight at all for half their orbit, etc etc. Still, if they worked at it, it could be pretty obnoxious.
Re:I expect more, Slashdot (Score:4, Interesting)
You don't seem to appreciate that they can fold out solar panels, they're not limited to the sides of a cube. Also they could collect power all day and store it in a battery, and only run the LEDs for a short time.
Also you would not have multiple surfaces illuminated.
As for the time out of sunlight at low Earth orbit, it can be as low as zero, and in practice these are already popular orbits.
Your numbers are not best case, they're lower than worst case.
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Or have the rocket "land" on PepsiCo's headquarters.
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You know you're a moron, and so is the idiot who modded you up.
http://astronomy.com/news/2019... [astronomy.com]
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One cataclysm later and people will be sacrificing their children to the great flying Pepsi in the sky.